Violin students Matthew Hakkarainen (pictured) and Maya Anjali Buchanan were recently featured on Virginia Public Media as part of the “Making of Menuhin” podcast. Mr. Hakkarainen and Ms. Buchanan were interviewed about their backgrounds, musical journeys, and experiences at Curtis leading up to the international Menuhin Competition.
Fellow students Hana Chang, I-hao Cheng, Karisa Chiu, Emma Meinrenken, Emily Shehi, and Hannah Wan Ching Tam are also finalists in the competition and will be featured in subsequent podcast episodes.
Curtis students, alumni, and faculty, are making remarkable accomplishments in the music world and beyond. Learn more about Curtis in the News.
On Saturday, May 23, Curtis awarded degrees, diplomas, and certificates to 53 graduates in a special Commencement ceremony held online due to the need for social distancing in the COVID-19 pandemic. Graduates, who completed their Curtis tenures with remote lessons and classes over the past two months, were honored in particular for their hard work and flexibility in these challenging times. “I’m so happy to celebrate this momentous occasion in our graduating students’ lives in this most unexpected way,” said President Roberto Díaz as he opened the proceedings. “Our collective resilience bodes very well for the future of our art, and for this I am incredibly humbled and grateful.” President Díaz and Dean Paul Bryan presided over the ceremony, and speakers addressed the graduates through videos pre-recorded in their homes. Likewise, graduates and their families viewed the ceremony via YouTube from around the globe. Here’s a quick recap.
Musical Offerings
From his home, organ faculty Alan Morrison (Organ ’91, Accompanying ’93) played Bach’s Allegro, from Organ Concerto in A minor, BWV 593, to open the ceremony. His postlude was the Final from Vierne’s Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 59–a work written in memory of legendary organist Lynnwood Farnum, who served as Curtis’s first organ teacher from 1927 to 1930.
An Alumnus Addresses the Graduates
In an inspiring message, Weston Sprott (Trombone ’05), dean of the Preparatory Division at the Juilliard School and trombonist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, encouraged the Class of 2020 to embrace the challenges of this time: “We are resilient people. We don’t bat an eye when the assignment is to spend hours a day, sometimes in solitude, finding creative solutions to complex problems. That’s what we do. If any group of people is capable of leading the way during this time, it’s this one.”
Student Speakers
Kip Zimmerman (Oboe)
“Let us continue to open doors—to each other and, whenever possible, to new perspectives and modes of thinking. Most importantly, let us open up ourselves to the trials, the pain, the fear, the ecstasy, and the blind journey forward. This is the only way we might we have the hope of making truly great art.”
Cynthia Phillippi (Viola)
“Let’s emerge from this worldwide pause celebrating all parts of ourselves, all of what makes us who we are. This includes our musical endeavors and growth, but it’s okay to spend time and energy on other things, too: it’s what makes us complete people… Let’s take joy in the adventure of discovering who we are.”
Awards and Prizes
Joan Hutton Landis Award for Excellence in Academics
Tsutomu William Copeland (Violin)
Edward Aldwell Award for Excellence in Musical Studies
Tsutomu William Copeland (Violin) and Eric Tsai (Violin)
Charles Miller Prize: The Sergei Rachmaninoff Award
Eric Lu (Piano)
Milka Violin Artist Prize
Do Gyung Im (Violin)
Angelo Sylvestro Festorazzi Scholarship
Adam Kiss (Opera)
Paul G. Mehlin Scholarship
Jia-Cheng Xiong (Piano)
The Presser Foundation Undergraduate Scholar Award
Mekhi Gladden (Oboe)
Certificates, Degrees, and Diplomas
Diploma: 1
Post-Baccalaureate Diploma: 16
Bachelor of Music: 31
Master of Music in Opera: 2
Certificate of Professional Studies: 3
Curtis composer Maya Miro Johnson has received a 2020 BMI Student Composer Award from the BMI Foundation. Ms. Johnson is one of eight 2020 Student Composer Award winners, and she was also awarded this year’s William Schuman and Carlos Surinach prizes.
Curtis students, alumni, and faculty, are making remarkable accomplishments in the music world and beyond. Learn more about Curtis in the News.
How do you hold a violin? What makes Bach so special? Students enrolled in the artist-citizen curriculum at Curtis, including three Community Artist Fellows, answer these questions throughout the school year as they work in a variety of Philadelphia community settings—elementary and high schools, homeless shelters, and programs catering to seniors such as the Penn Memory Center. In the process they develop practical skills to engage deeply with audiences of all kinds and lead community-based projects that meaningfully affect the lives of others.
Now that coronavirus restrictions have precluded these personal interactions, this engagement work has moved online. Mary Javian, chair of career studies, has asked her students and the fellows to create videos that capture the activities they would normally lead in person: introducing elementary school children to orchestral instruments; guiding more advanced musicians through sophisticated practice techniques; or introducing audiences to a work of music that particularly moves them, in an initiative called Stories from Home. “We are sharing these with our community partners and anyone else who might like to hear our students from their homes all over the world,” says Ms. Javian.
Here are a few of the results:
In a related effort, students and fellows held their first virtual Memory Cafe for the Penn Memory Center on May 1. Temporarily replacing the in-person interactions led by Curtis participants, the popular program included a blend of live and pre-recorded performances with students and Community Artist Fellows answering questions in real time. Also in partnership with the Penn Memory Center, students continue to lead interactive workshops in Creative Expression Through Music. Participants gather on online meeting platforms to explore creativity and create community through vocalizing, drumming, and more. View examples of this work from previous years.
Community-based projects are an essential part of a Curtis education, informing students’ development as artists and empowering them to invent careers with impact after their graduation. Learn more about the school’s artist-citizen curriculum and Community Artist Fellowships.
